Now before we all get settled in our comfy reading chairs, let us take a moment to mention the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland (http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/), in their library may be found a whole treasure house of information and so if you ever have the chance to drop in then be prepared to be overcome with information. By golly gosh you may actually discover that elusive ancestor. So where were we up to ? Ah yes, the Conspiracy of Amboise in the year 1560. Perhaps for those who are not aware of the world back then, we need to take a small sojourn by way of explaining just who the major players are and what life was like way back then. We have mentioned the DE GUISE family, well a few of them and so lets give the major ones names. Well we now know about Claude the first Duc de Guise. Three of his children are in our story. Marie, she was Mary Queen of Scots mother.. Frank, well we know him already, dastardly character that he was, and Charles, he became Cardinal de Lorraine and died in 1574. Next players are the children of Frank. Henri de Guise, Louis the Cardinal, Charles Duc de Mayenne and Catherine de Montpensier. Ok so now we have the major DE GUISE family players in the story. Others that will receive a mention are Michel de L'Hopital, have to say he was almost a nice man due to blood relatives and all that and more on him later.. Louis de Bourbon (Conde) he turns out to be one of the goodies as do Gaspard de Chatillon, he almost convinced Charles IX that the Huguenots were ok until Charlies mother, Catherine de Medici, got him in the kitchen one day and told him who was who. Jeanne d'Albret married Antoine de Bourbon. Those de Bourbon didn't really know which way to go during those days but in general they were ok. We like Jeanne and with luck we will find out why later in the story. Then of course we will give the 'League' a minor mention. Yes I know fellow Huguenot supporters why give the bad guys a break but we have to show that we are not biased. And how could we have a story about this period without mentioning Anne de Montmorency... now hands up all who got this wrong... HE was Constable of France for awhile. A little like naming your boy Sue I suppose, but maybe Anne was , well bisexual back then ? Now there is one for you budding genealogists, try and explain Anne de Montmorency to your computer software that insists that HE be a HER. Now we have the players, that I am aware of. If you happen to know some more then post away. Maybe your ancestor was making his or her mark in this period in France ? Let us now set the scene. France has had its troubles for awhile now, it is afterall only less than 200 years since the Maid D'Orleans did her thing. Look around your home and try to imagine living in an area of less than 16 square metres or about 250 square feet. Nice comfy dirt floor, cross flow ventilation was open the door and the only window and the constant dampness with wood fire did wonders for your health. Did I not mention the bathroom? Good! they didn't have them either. And that would be a comfy residence for many. The poorer folk had life much tougher. Mind you the "toffs" didn't have life all that much better. Try living in France in a solid stone house or castle in winter, smoky rooms, bad plumbing and no broadband connection. Outside of France the world, as it was known, was also in turmoil. Columbus had only recently found what we now know as the West Indies, even if he was heading for China, Vasco da Gama was rounding Africa on his way to India, the Tsars in Russia were squabbling and some fellows over in Switzerland were trying to come to grips with an idea of protesting against some of the church teachings. So fellow listers let us begin now that we have the scene in our minds. Amboise, located in the Val de Loire region of France a quietly romantic place if ever. Way back in the olden days it is also where Clovis of the Francs sat down with Alaric of the Wisigoths in 503 and signed a peace treaty. Didn't last long but I thought I would mention it anyway. Another claim to fame is that Jeanne d'Arc passed by in 1429 on her to Orléans where she beat the daylights out of the English. Go Joan Go !! oops Leonardo de Vinci lived there from 1516 to 1519. Oh alright then enough of the tour guide back to the conspiracy. Seems that nobody wants to put an exact date on when but I suppose 17th of March,1560 will have to do and Louis de Bourbon, the first one, became mixed up with an idea to bring down the despised De Guise and their influence. Well he, Louis, had only recently converted to being a Protestor but faith and war planning have little in common and as Louis had had some success at Metz against the Spanish in 1552 and St. Quentin in 1557 he actually did know a little about military planning. So he is given credit for hatching the plot. The plot being to kidnap the King. Francois, the second one, then nab Frank De Guise with his brother Chuck the Cardinal and throw the lot in prison and there you go. Huguenots 3 Catholics 0. Well it turns out that history has a way of mucking up a good idea and so when Chuck heard about Lou's idea he managed to get off an email to the good Catholic soldiers to head over to shore up the shed, all before the good guys could organise themselves. Some say 1500 to 1600 Protestants were hung from the battlements and surrounding trees for weeks. Into our story now comes Catherine de Medici and Michel de L'Hopital, but that is for next time. Kind Regards, Peter Leroy